


Two Boys can't be Soulmates...Can They?

by lil_pianissimo



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Hatake Kakashi is a Good Teacher, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, Male Homosexuality, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sick Character, Sickfic, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Uchiha Sasuke-centric, Young Love, but the ending is gonna be cute, it gets really ugly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:54:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24151657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lil_pianissimo/pseuds/lil_pianissimo
Summary: Everyone develops a soul mark around the ages of twelve and thirteen. Everyone's soulmate was destined by the time they developed their soul marks and fate hasn't been wrong before...but Sasuke is beginning to think that he is the first person in the world to have an error. There is no way his soulmate is Naruto...right?
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Hatake Kakashi, Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 5
Kudos: 105





	Two Boys can't be Soulmates...Can They?

**Author's Note:**

> This was a short indulgent story that my sister requested. It was supposed to be a one-shot, but I think I'll end up giving it one more conclusive chapter. We'll see. Let me know what you think!

The first thing that everybody learns in the academy is nothing related to being a ninja at all, but instead involved their prominent futures. Everyone in the world had a soulmate, or soul mark that indicated who they were destined to end up with. The marks do not present onto a person until the have reached of age, meaning when they hit puberty. When the topic of people potentially sitting right next to their future soulmates was teased, all of the eight-year old’s gagged and a chorus of ew erupted through the classroom. After that the topic was hardly brought up or thought about because of ninja training.

Now, almost five years later, the early bloomers were starting to show signs, and now it was the newest popular trend. The topic was no longer taboo or gross to many as the prospect held mystery and curiosity for most. As children however, they were instructed to keep their soul marks hidden from the opposite sex until they were physically and mentally prepared to learn who they would ultimately elope with, but they were also warned that many people have a physical response to meeting their soulmate, whether they knew if they had matching marks, or not.

The first time Team 7 experienced this phenomenon was with their own peer, Sakura Haruno. Being the oldest of the three genin, she presented first. A simple red flower appearing on the base of her neck. She was ecstatic to know she had a soulmate and was praying openly about how she hoped it would be Sasuke, much to Naruto’s dismay and Kakashi’s amusement. However, during the chuunin exams they all discovered her soulmate after they locked eyes and though Sakura had a very different response, Lee had a very physical response after seeing his soulmate for the first time.

Naruto was extremely disappointed and even bothered to complain to Sasuke about it, as if he would care.

Something they all found intriguing, even though Sasuke tried not to be curious by it, was Shikamaru’s soul mark. For one thing, the guy was lazy and immature, borderline irritating with his need to sleep through information and having a complete lack of care for most things. Yet here he was with a spiral symbol on the back of his wrist.

“What the heck is that?” Naruto had dumbly questioned, to which Shikamaru sighed at his stupidity.

“It’s the symbol for wind, idiot. Man, what a drag.” He groaned, as if he didn’t want a soulmate, but everyone knew just by looking at him that even he was jittery.

At this point, the marks were all the rage. Choji had a cloud etched on his left bicep, Ino had an ugly ink blot on her right hip (which she frequently complained about), Neji a sharp triangle on the back of his hand, Kiba and Hinata ended up finding out they were each other’s soulmates by accident. They saw on a mission that they both had matching circles on their necks (they try not to talk about it), and even Naruto revealed to their team that he had the “yang” of the yin-yang symbol on his right wrist.

“See! See! I have a soulmate! Who do you think it is, Kakashi-sensei?” He asked enthusiastically to their teacher.

“Well, it’s hard to tell, isn’t it?” He replied ambiguously to which Naruto lost his head and started yelling at him to give him ideas. Sakura had laughed and Sasuke had huffed at the scene and walked away.

He was the only one who didn’t have one.

Was there something wrong with him? Surely he would’ve developed one by now, he had hit puberty ages ago. Before Naruto even, so what was happening? There have been reports of people growing up without soul marks, but even that was considered rare. He wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t have one though. Afterall, what had he done to deserve one? Maybe fate was trying to tell him that he was destined to be alone for the rest of his life.

That night Sasuke had a horrible nightmare about his clan’s murder. The horrid expressions his parent’s wore as the light left their eyes and the shadow of his brother was left basking in the red moon and the glistening crimson of their shared blood. The curse mark on his shoulder pulsed violently and burned his skin as the panic set in his nightmares.

He woke himself up screaming and frantically looked around him to grasp his surroundings. He had realized that he was in his room, but the underlying panic was making his chest hurt. His breathing was labored, and he tried to go through all of the motions of calming himself down. Five things he could see, four things he could touch, three he could hear, two he could smell, and one he could taste. Breathe in on eight, out on four. Repeat.

He was fine. His heart was a mellower tempo, his hands weren’t shaking as much, and he could breathe. He was more than fine.

Despite this, Sasuke felt sick to his stomach, the image of blood and guts still fresh in his head. He shakily slinked out of his bed and wobbled slowly over to the bathroom. He put a sweaty palm to his mouth; moving made him nauseous. When he felt the sickening rise of bile he ran to the open door and unfortunately didn’t make it to the toilet, but he did make the sink as he emptied whatever little was left in his stomach from the day before. He didn’t even know what time it was as he continued to spit up his puke.

He hated nights like these, despised how his own memories made him feel. He was stronger than this, he was fine, he knew he was, but it still hit him in the back of the head. His throat was raw as he hacked, tears prickling the corners of his eyes reflexively, snot dripping down his face and mixing with the spit on his chin. The distressed raven took shallow breaths, so he didn’t trigger another puking episode, but a fit of guttural coughs made his stomach flip regardless.

After about an hour of just shakily holding himself up at the sink, he decided that he had nothing left to throw up. After the first two times it had just become saliva, so he should try and clean himself up now. Sasuke desperately wanted to take a hot bath but seeing the light peak through his curtains in the bedroom told him that he would have training soon. He sighed disappointedly and solemnly turned on the shower head. He stripped off his sweaty pajamas, feeling a sense of relief at the cool air on his skin; it was so hot. He looked at himself in the mirror and cringed at the image of himself: dark circles heavy underneath his black eyes, sweat dripping down his brow, dark hair clinging to every surface of pasty skin. The white of his skin looked sallow and his lips were dry and cracked from the acid left on them. He was a pathetic mess. He didn’t have time to self-loathe though as he stepped under the now cold water. As he shivered under the steady stream, Sasuke noticed a picture on his wrist that hadn’t been there before: the symbol for yin.

Usually Sasuke was better by the time he woke up, but he hadn’t had an episode that bad since he was a child. He blamed it on his newly discovered soul mark. Surely there was some kind of mistake? There was no way that that flamboyant, idiot Naruto was his soulmate! Was it even possible for two boys to be together? He must be broken. He felt anxious and upset at the mocking notion that he was an even bigger screw up than what he initially thought. 

The team was doing a simple mission to a nearby hot springs; clean up the weeds and tidy up the springs. Nothing too hard, they have done much worse work, and this was an easy thing for them to do and afterwards they got to enjoy the spring to their hearts content. It was easy, children’s work, simple, not at all stressful…yet Sasuke was feeling very not alright.

They each were working on a different part of the springs to cover more ground. Sasuke had found himself in the back away from everyone else, which made covering up his restlessness much easier to do. He wiped the back of his hand over his forehead noticing that it was coated in sweat. Why was it so hot out? His body was shaking, shivering, as he pulled at the weeds in the dirt. He tugged hard and was out of breath when he finally got the stupid green pests out of there. Sasuke had no energy and his breath was picking up. Why was it so hard to breathe?

“Ha! I’ve cleaned up more weeds than what you have, Sasuke!” The blonde bimbo announced competitively, far too loudly for the brooding boy’s liking. Naruto’s impish grin fell as he took a good look at his partner. “Hey, Sasuke, are you ok?”

“I’m fine!” Sasuke announced stubbornly trying to make it sound confident, but instead it came out tired and weak. Suddenly a wave of queasiness enveloped him as he quickly put a hand to his mouth and stomach. No, no. Not here. Keep it down. Keep it down. 

“Sasuke? Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Naruto asked again, voice heavy with concern. Sasuke would usually be upset that he was pitying him, but the images of his nightmares, his anxiety, the worry of who is soulmate was, his evident sexuality…it was too much.

Sasuke shook his head violently as he ran to the corner and threw up in the trees. He heard Naruto shouting for their sensei behind him, spouting that he was sick, but he could hardly hear over the deafening thump in his ears. He was so tired. He was sick of everything affecting him like this. He didn’t even know what had happened this time, he had an idea, but he still wasn’t certain. His whole life was a fucking whirlwind.

Heavy footsteps came up beside him, “Sasuke, how are you doing?” Kakashi questioned even though he knew exactly what was happening.

“Awful.” He croaked as another episode hit and he began choking on his breaths.

Kakashi put a hand on his back comfortingly, “Shh. It’s ok. Don’t fight it, it will only feel worse.”

To Sasuke’s horror, he started crying. Not tears slipping from his eyes from the burn of the acid on his esophagus, no, this was ugly, restrained crying. Fucking pathetic. Soothing words hushed his hiccups as he remained hunched over, but nothing else was coming up. He was just crying. From what? Who knew. It could be humiliation for his teammates seeing him so weak, frustration for allowing his stupid PTSD to take over his body, or it could be how much better he felt when Naruto was beside him. His voice usually sounded like nails grating a chalkboard, but today it was laced with care and warm kindness, something Sasuke wasn’t used to. It could have been he was too scared to acknowledge what that feeling was and what it was caused by. Whether or not it was new, or if it had always been there.

Kakashi had excused Sasuke from work to rest while the other three continued to work. Sasuke was irritated but didn’t fight it. He might’ve felt alright laying down, but there was no telling if his body was going to shut down when he stood up. After a few hours, Kakashi had come in to the room Sasuke was resting in.

“Hey, kiddo.” Sasuke cringed at the nickname as Kakashi just smiled under his mask, “Feeling any better?”

“I guess.” He answered cryptically. He really didn’t want to talk about it. “I’m not sick, Kakashi. I’ve just had a lot on my mind.”

Kakashi hummed and leaned against the doorframe, “Do you want to talk about it?” Sasuke turned his head away and Kakashi shrugged. “You know, considering you just puked on a mission, it might be wise to get that stress off of your shoulders.” Sasuke flinched, “If your body responds physically to anxiety…well, who am I to tell you what to do? I’m only your mentor and closest adult role model.”

“Ok, I get it.” He admitted. Kakashi was a sneaky shit and knew exactly what buttons to push in order to get him to talk. His sensei smugly wandered over and sat down beside him on the floor.

“I’m listening.”  
Sasuke was quiet before deciding he wasn’t going to get out of this, “It really is nothing. I just had a nightmare last night.”

“And?” Sasuke furrowed his brows in confusion. “As your sensei I’m aware of the things you go through and have, but you’ve never responded like this.”

“I have—”

“Not like this. On overnight trips you respond this way, not when you’ve been awake for a considerable amount of time. Did something different happen?”

He sighed, “I got my soul mark, but I don’t think it’s right.”

“I hate to break it to you, but the soul marks are never wrong. You should be excited.” When Kakashi noticed the look on Sasuke’s face, he pried further. “Unless you already know who your soulmate is, and you don’t yet approve?”

His temper was rising, “No, well, yes, but…it’s not right. It would never work. I know that they don’t feel the same. I didn’t even realize what my feelings were until recently…I thought…” Kakashi put his hand on Sasuke’s back, “I thought I was just beginning to understand what our friendship was. That that was just how we worked, but now I’m not sure it was ever that at all.”

Kakashi hummed as he listened to Sasuke’s predicament. It wasn’t uncommon for children to be confused or even upset with their soul marks, so Kakashi wasn’t at all surprised that Sasuke was having trouble coping with it.

“Can I ask you something?” Sasuke finally turned to him.

“I don’t know. Can you?” He chuckled as the boy glared at him, “I’m only joking. Of course, you can.”

He huffed in annoyance but continued shortly after a prolonged silence between the two. “Is it possible for…two people…boys…” 

Ah. He wasn’t expecting to have this conversation.

“To fall in love?” Kakashi finished for him as the raven’s shoulder’s stiffened at the word. “Well, that’s a bit of a hard question to answer. Logically, of course it’s possible, but our society doesn’t think it’s right.”

“What do you think?”

“I say, if it’s not hurting anybody then who cares.” He peered at his pupil from the corner of his eye, “What do you think?”

He turned to him eyes wide, “Me? I-I don’t know.” Sasuke started fiddling with his wrist at the question, which Kakashi took notice to.

“I’m gathering that your soulmate is probably a boy,” he flinched, “and you don’t know what to think about it yet.”

“Can there be more than one person with a matching soul mark?” He asked sounding hopeful.

“No.” Sasuke slumped, “A soul mark is unique to each person and only pairs with one other person.”

“But can they be confused for another if they look similar?”

“Not likely. You know when you’ve met your soulmate.” And he knew. Sasuke already knew and it hurt him. “Can I see it?” Sasuke shook his head as he held his wrist to his chest. “Come on, Sasuke. What are the chances that I’m going to know the matching piece?” Sasuke gave him a look but said nothing. It didn’t matter anyhow because that look said a thousand words. “Ah. It’s Naruto, isn’t it?”

Sasuke sighed dejected as he pulled down his wrist cover to reveal the matching piece, “What am I supposed to do?” 

Kakashi had never seen Sasuke look so helpless, “Truthfully, there’s nothing you can do, but you don’t have to do anything about it right now. You don’t have to tell him until you’re ready.”

“I don’t ever want him to know.”

“Why is that?”

“He would just be disappointed. Naruto wants somebody who cares about him and helps him grow. Someone who supports his dream and who makes him smile…a girl, woman, who is beautiful, smart, funny, and not at all like me.”

“How do you know for sure that’s what he wants?”

Sasuke lost it, “He doesn’t want me, Kakashi! I do nothing but hold him back! He sees me as an obstacle in his way! He hates me!”

“On the contrary. That is what you want him to be, but I think you inspire him. Your skills are more honed, so he wants to catch up to you and he wants you to see him as an equal.”

“That’s not true.”

“I know it’s true because he told me so.” Sasuke was shocked and just stared at Kakashi incredulously, “Look, you’re young. You have your whole life ahead of you to figure this out. Just lay down and don’t fret about it so much, alright?”

“But how can—”

A finger was pressed to his lips, “Shh. Don’t worry about it. Fate has a weird way of doing things and I promise you they didn’t mess up with you. Just trust me.” He smiled as he stood up and left for the door, “Get some sleep. If you feel well enough to eat, we’ll be eating in the next hour or so.” As Kakashi left his student in the room, Sasuke just laid back down.

He should trust Kakashi, but he already had trust issues. Sasuke turned over in the sheets and closed his eyes, suddenly feeling fatigued from the days unfortunate events. He decided, for the meantime, he’ll keep his soulmate a secret. Nobody needed to know, and he could just feign it as not ever getting one. That was much more believable than him being gay anyhow. With his permanent decision made, he shut his eyes a drifted into a weary, unsettled sleep.


End file.
